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Hi, Crime House community. It's Vanessa Richardson. Exciting news. Conspiracy theories, cults and crimes is leveling up. Starting the week of January 12th, you'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Every week has a theme. Tech, bioterror, power, paranoia, you name it. Follow conspiracy theories, cults and crimes now on your podcast app because you're about to dive deeper, get weirder, and go darker than ever before.
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This is Crime House. Last night we talked about Sharon Moore, the Michigan coach who was fired and arrested for stalking and threatening his executive assistant after she ended the affair. But tonight, we are talking about another insane Michigan football scandal involving the co offensive coordinator, Matt Weiss, who allegedly orchestrated the largest cyber essay against student athletes in U.S. history. The Department of Justice says Matt Weiss was the mastermind of a massive data breach, mostly targeting female college athletes. Prosecutors say about 150,000 athletes in total could be affected by all of this. Matt charged with unauthorized computer access and identity theft. Detroit Prosecutors say from 2015 to 2023, Weiss hacked into databases of more than 100 schools. Welcome to Crime House 24 7. I'm your host, Katie Ring. We're following the cases making headlines now where justice is still unfolding. Follow us wherever you are listening and if you want ad free episodes, subscribe to Crime House plus on Apple Podcasts. This episode discusses active criminal cases and breaking news. The information we share is based on what's publicly available at the time of recording and may change as new evidence comes to light. We aim to inform, not to decide guilt or innocence. So everyone mentioned is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. All right, it's day two of Night Watch University week. Last night we talked about the most recent Michigan football scandal with Sharon Moore. And in that episode, I briefly touched on some of the scandals that have happened within the Michigan football program in the past few years. And after some deliberation, we decided one of them needed an episode of its own. But before we get into it, here's a quick reminder of what we went over in yesterday's episode. We walked through the firing of the head coach, Sharon Moore, whose contract was terminated by Michigan after finding out about his inappropriate romantic relationship with his executive assistant. After he was fired, Moore broke into his ex's apartment and threatened to kill himself with two butter knives and a pair of scissors. So he was also handed three criminal charges on top of his contract being terminated. Moore has a probable cause hearing coming up on January 22nd. So we are still waiting to see how those charges unfold. Since the charges went public, Michigan fans have been trying to deal with the shock of their coaches actions. As of this recording, Michigan has hired Kyle Whittingham as his replacement, who had spent the last 21 years at the University of Utah. But the interesting part of all of this is that Moore's criminal charges are just the latest thing to unfold over in Ann Arbor. Despite Michigan football being one of the most powerful athletic programs in the country, they have roughly 450 alum in the NFL, 12 national championships to their name, including the 2023 national championship. That championship team operated under head coach Jim Harbaugh and offensive coordinator Sharon Moore. Names we're familiar with already. But in football there are a lot of people who are responsible for different aspects of the team, including this includes a guy by the name Kirk Campbell, the quarterback's coach. And if you're thinking, well that's an unfamiliar name, well that's because it should be. Kirk Campbell was promoted in 2023 from a regular season offensive analyst to quarterbacks coach, which was a big deal. Why? Because another man was noticeably missing from the coaching lineup and that's none other than former quarterbacks coach Matt Weiss. So who is Matt Weiss and why was he replaced? Let's get into it. Before he ever arrived in Ann Arbor, Weiss had already carved out a career in football. He was at the prestigious Stanford University as a graduate assistant coach from 2005 to 2008. And this is where he first crossed paths with Harbaugh, who was Stanford's head coach at the time. During his time at Stanford, Harbaugh completely turned Stanford's football program around and was recruited to become the head coach for the 49ers. And while Harbaugh transitioned into the highest level of the sport, so did Weis. By 2009, he began working for Jim Harbaugh's brother, John Harbaugh at the Baltimore Ravens. Under John, the Ravens were one of the NFL's most analytically driven organizations. Weiss's roles focused on offensive analysis data and quarterback development, which will all be incredibly important later on. Colleagues described him as someone who is technically savvy and comfortable with systems and even more comfortable with access. That skill set made him attractive to programs looking to modernize, and in 2021, the University of Michigan was one of those programs. That year, Weiss returned to working as a quarterbacks coach under Jim Harbaugh in a role that placed him in direct contact with players, players at one of the most visible positions in the sport. And here's the thing. Quarterback coaches are trusted with more than mechanics. They are involved in film study, game planning, internal evaluation, and player development. They work inside systems that track performance, health and personal information. And Weiss was good at that. Within a year, his role expanded and he was promoted to Michigan's co offensive coordinator. From the outside, his rise looked remarkable. Michigan assistants were frequently courted by other programs, but staff continuity was seen as a strength and Weiss appeared to be part of the long term plan. Nothing about this public profile suggested trouble. But according to federal prosecutors, the most significant chapter of this story had already begun long before Weiss had ever joined Michigan staff. Because the truth is, Weiss wasn't what he seemed. Court filings alleged that as early as 2015, when Weiss was still working for the Ravens, he began engaging in conduct that would later form the basis of the federal criminal case. Investigators allege he gained unauthorized access to databases maintained by a third party vendor called Keffer Development Services. Kefir is a system that's used by colleges and universities nationwide and and it's responsible for storing highly sensitive information about student athletes, including names, birth dates, contact details and medical data. Basically all of the private information available on student athletes nationwide that should have been kept safe. Yet around 2015, Weiss crossed a boundary. He accessed these systems without authorization and downloaded information connected to athletes and at more than 100 schools. And by hacking through Keffer, he got access to 150,000 profiles. That access, investigators say, was not incidental. Federal authorities alleged that Weiss used the personal information he obtained to identify and target individuals, many of whom were current or former student athletes. And once Weiss accessed these accounts, he allegedly downloaded private, intimate photographs and videos, things that were never intended to be shared publicly beyond personal, intimate relationships. And this wasn't a one off incident. Prosecutors say this continued for years. It didn't stop when Weiss joined Michigan, and it didn't even stop when he was promoted. According to prosecutors, the University of Michigan had no idea any of this was going on until late June 2022, when a Michigan employee reported some odd activity. They had detected unauthorized access involving computer systems that was connected to the athletic department. And while the school still hasn't detailed exactly how this issue was discovered, it said the activity prompted an internal investigation. After the report, the University of Michigan's internal police department quietly launched an investigation into the suspicious activity. And In January of 2023, the University of Michigan sent out an announcement, one that confused fans and players alike. The school announced that Weiss had been placed on administrative leave. The statement was brief and vague, but it mentioned unauthorized access to computer accounts. No criminal charges were announced, no federal agency was named, and no victims were identified. But then, just weeks later, Matt Weiss was fired. On January 20, 2023, Matt Weiss, the co offensive coordinator for the University of Michigan's football team, was at the top of his game when he was suddenly placed on leave and then fired. But this was just the start of his dramatic fall from grace. At the time, many assumed Weiss's firing involved internal policy violations or broad misuse of university systems. But behind the scenes, the investigation was expanding, and Michigan wasn't just conducting its own internal probe. They were now cooperating with the feds. Federal prosecutors alleged that Weiss's familiarity with complex digital platforms and layered access systems enabled him to navigate databases that most people have never even seen. Search warrants were executed, devices were examined, and as investigators traced access logs and data downloads, the scope of the alleged activity widened dramatically. At the same time, there were no warnings sent to athletes, no system wide alerts, no moment when a single victim realized in real time that their privacy had been breached by a stranger possibly hundreds of miles away. Instead, the first real reckoning came years later For a victim named Ali Torline. That moment arrived almost 10 years after she played her last collegiate volleyball match. Volleyball had shaped her life, and As a former D1 volleyball player, I can attest to the time and dedication it takes to make it to this level. Allie grew up playing club volleyball and worked her way into the college ranks, eventually joining the Cal State University San Bernardino team, where she earned all American recognition from a national coaching organization. She loved her experience there, her teammates, her coaches, and the discipline of the sport helped shape who she became as an adult. But by the time she was 30, volleyball felt like a closed chapter, a proud one with fond memories and the accolades to prove it. Those memories were hers and hers alone. But then came the notice. In 2025, Ali received a message from federal authorities informing her that during her time as a student athlete, a football coach she had never met who lived and worked across the country, had hacked into a student athlete database, and from that information, he was able to hack her private emails, cloud storages, and social media accounts to download intimate images or videos. In an interview with NBC News, Ali said the notification was brutal and that the most difficult part was not knowing exactly what had been accessed or for how long. She said that thinking about what he might have seen makes her feel incredibly vulnerable and that the notification shattered her sense of safety. What she believed was private may have only Been a lie. That is one of the most destabilizing parts of cases like this. The harm doesn't always happen at the same time as the act. Mackenzie Johnson had the same experience. She used to play softball at Grambling State University in Louisiana. Just like Ally, Mackenzie learned through an email from the federal government that her private accounts had allegedly been accessed by Weiss. She said the breach wasn't just about privacy. It was about the realization that institutions entrusted with athlete data had failed to protect it and had failed to protect her. And what's even more tragic is that Allie and Mackenzie's experiences were not isolated events. As federal authorities worked backwards through years of digital records, they began notifying hundreds of individuals like Allie and Mackenzie across the country. Eventually, hundreds grew to 3,300 current victims, many of whom are current student athletes, had graduated a few years earlier or were long removed from the campuses where their information had been stored. And there's something important to notemost. Of these victims are women. Weiss didn't simply target accounts at random. According to his indictment, Weiss kept detailed notes about the accounts he accessed. These notes allegedly included commentary on the victims bodies and sexual preferences. For the women later notified by the Justice Department, this detail was especially disturbing. An anonymous source interviewed by NBC, who will call Jane, said the idea that someone may have cataloged or commented on her private images made her feel exposed in a way she struggled to articulate. Jane described feeling as though control over her own body and image had been taken from her long after she left college. And it had been going on invisibly for years until finally, on March 20, 2025, Weiss's case went public, and he was finally exposed to the full force of public scrutiny. Weiss was officially charged with a whopping 24 federal accounts, including 14 counts of unauthorized access to computers and 10 counts of aggravated identity theft. The indictment didn't just allege what Weiss had done. It also hinted at a possible motive, namely the fact that he had specifically targeted female athletes and alumni and had downloaded intimate content. So this wasn't just a ploy to help him with recruiting or getting medical data from possible transfers to Michigan. It wasn't even a plan for financial gain either. This was a sinister, calculated hacking scheme. And according to NBC News, attorneys Megan Bonani and Lisa Esser, who represent dozens of Weiss's victims in a civil class action lawsuit, call it the largest cyber essay against student athletes in US History. Regardless, Weiss pleaded not guilty to all of his charges, and as of right now, the case remains active before the victims already notified. The impact is real and ongoing. The news reopened old chapters of their lives that they never expected to revisit. College years that once represented growth and achievement were suddenly reframed by a violation they never saw coming. And for investigators, the case represents something broader than one former coach. It is a story about access, trust, and what happens when systems built to protect young athletes are allegedly used against them. And what makes the Matt Weiss case even more unsettling is that it fits a pattern. The sports world has seen this before. No, it wasn't the same motive. It wasn't the same kind of victimization, but it was the same structural vulnerability. Access information, competitive environments and institutions built on trust that can be exploited by the people inside of them. The 2023 Matt Weiss scandal at the University of Michigan wasn't the first time modern sports clashed with a digital criminal era. There was another major hacking scandal that shook the sports world to its core. And ironically, it came to a head around the same year that prosecutors believe Matt Weiss started his own hacking scheme. It was June of 2015, news broke that the FBI and federal prosecutors were investigating the St. Louis Cardinals, a Major League baseball team, or allegedly hacking into the Houston Astros internal network. What investigators were looking at was not a fan intrusion. It wasn't a random cyber attack. It was a case that pointed directly back into the Cardinals own ecosystem. The target was a system known as ground control, a database used by the Astros to store sensitive internal information. Things like scouting reports, player evals, and decision making records that gave the organization its competitive edge. The person at the center of the scandal was Chris Correa, who was the Cardinals scouting director at the time. He was known as the computer guy in the department, the kind of guy who's really good at technical stuff. In 2011, two of Correa's co workers left the Cardinals to join the Astros, who, by the way, were major rivals. Correa thought his former co workers were going to take various pieces of data and algorithms to the Astros and use them against the Cardinals. So Correa decided to take matters into his own hands without authorization. He got into his former coworkers Astros email, and that opened the floodgates. Getting into the email helped Correa get incredibly sensitive information, including scouting reports, draft rankings, and trade notes. Again, this wasn't a unique incident. Over the next few years, he accessed the email 48 times and even sometimes stayed inside the astro system for two hours at a time. In 2014, Correa leaked some of the information he was found to a sports blog and only then did the Astros realize that their system had been compromised when the FBI traced the hack back to Correa, it was the beginning of the end. He pleaded guilty two years later, on January 8, 2016, to five counts of unauthorized access of a protected computer. By doing this, he accepted responsibility for hacking the Astros, even agreeing that he, quote, broke into their house. Which I think is really interesting because he's basically saying that hacking is essentially digital trespassing. Seven months later, on July 18, Correa was sentenced to 46 months in prison. In January of 2017, the MLB decided that the Cardinals had to be punished as well. Its commissioner ordered the Cardinals to pay the Astros $2 million and surrender 2 of its draft picks to the Astros, while Correa was placed on the permanently ineligible list, which essentially banned him from baseball altogether. With this, the league's public message was simple. Digital intrusion was not just cheating. It was a line that could trigger criminal consequences, organizational punishment, and lasting reputational damage. But the deeper takeaway was far more uncomfortable. This was not an attack from outside the sport. It was an insider using access, familiarity with systems, and an organizational culture built around gaining every possible advantage. And that is where the connective tissue runs back to Matt Weiss. Weiss's actions aren't just a one off technical anomaly. They're a sustained pattern enabled by the same kinds of conditions that existed in Major League Baseball a decade earlier. High value information, highly connected systems, heavy reliance on digital platforms, and a trust model that assumes people with credentials will behave ethically in baseball. The Correa case ended with a guilty plea, a prison sentence, restitution, and significant league discipline. In the Weiss case, that ending doesn't exist. Yet. The legal fight is still shaping what a jury may eventually hear. And by the time they hear it, Weiss's actions will not be judged in a vacuum. As of this recording, Weiss's legal team has challenged the scope of the indictment and the government's interpretation of digital evidence, saying the FBI is going too hard on him. The thing I find most unsettling about the Weiss case is that the content he found through this huge hacking scheme that must have taken him to hours and hours of work is available for pay all over the Internet. But he went through all of this work because he wanted non consensual content. He didn't want to pay for something people were offering. He wanted to take it. And I don't believe the FBI is going too hard on him for this. Meanwhile, pre trial proceedings are ongoing and there actually should be one a few days from now. But that doesn't mean that other people have stopped taking action. Civil lawsuits filed by the victims continue to move through the courts, alleging that institutions failed to adequately safeguard athlete data and failed to act quickly enough once the warning signs appeared. On its part, the University of Michigan had denied wrongdoing, stating that the alleged access involved its Kefir third party platform and that the school acted immediately once it was aware of the potential misconduct. What happens next will be determined in court, but regardless of the outcome, the case has already exposed something sports institutions can no longer ignore. Data is power, access is responsibility, and trust, once broken, is hard to restore. What did you think of tonight's case? Drop your thoughts and theories in the comments. And if you liked this episode, there's more where that came from. Stay tuned for another deep dive into the world of college scandals tomorrow night. See you next time if you haven't already. Follow us wherever you're listening rimehouse247 and make sure to follow us on social media rimehouse247 for real time updates, because the pursuit of justice never stops.
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Looking for your next listen. Hi, it's Vanessa Richardson and I have exciting news. Conspiracy theories, Cults and crimes is leveling up starting the week of January 12th. You'll be getting two episodes every week. Wednesdays we unravel the Conspiracy, Conspiracy or the cult, and on Fridays we look at a corresponding crime. Follow Conspiracy Theories, Cults and Crimes now on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, or wherever you listen.